Ray Salazar

Ray Salazar is the Coordinator of the Chicago Public Schools Student-Teaching Initiative. His main responsibilities are recruitingand supporting individuals enrolled in traditional teacher preparationprograms.

Before returning to CPS in March of 2004, Ray was the Midwest Assistant Director of Education for the National Council of La Raza, where he provided technical assistance to twelve charter and alternative schools in five states. Previously, Ray was an English teacher in Chicago's Alternative Schools Network and Hubbard High School. He also taught composition classes at Daley College.

Besides teaching, Ray was a trainer and assessor with the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in 2000 and 2001. His assessment experience also includes scoring AP English Literature exams for the College Board.

In 2002, Ray served as program chair for the National Association for Chicana/Chicano Studies Conference. He also presented at the 1998 NCTE International Shakespeare Conference and the 2004 Midwest Modern Language Association Conference.

As a freelance writer, Ray has written for magazines, National Public Radio, and Chicago Public Radio's Eight Forty-Eight.

Ray earned a B.A. in English/Secondary Education and an M.A. in Writing with distinction from DePaul University, where he served as graduate student representative in 2002-2003.